


My Last Chance Before You Go

by Blackforestfire



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Drinking, Going away to college au, M/M, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-26
Updated: 2015-11-28
Packaged: 2018-05-03 10:47:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5287772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blackforestfire/pseuds/Blackforestfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You’re sitting in the basement of your house, red faced and giggling, as your friends arrange themselves in a circle around an empty liquor bottle. It’s the day after high school graduation and your Dad let you have the house for the weekend. That meant, of course, that your friends had the house too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

You’re sitting in the basement of your house, red faced and giggling, as your friends arrange themselves in a circle around an empty liquor bottle. It’s the day after high school graduation and your Dad let you have the house for the weekend. That meant, of course, that your friends had the house too.

Dave sat next to you, his knee rubbing yours occasionally as he traded quips with Rose on his other side. Jade sat next to her and grinned around the rim of her glass, pupils dilated as she watched Rose disassemble every word out of Dave’s mouth.

“So what you’re saying is, you can’t pick a career path because you have a crisis of identity and don’t want to be put under one label,” Rose concludes the lecture you weren’t listening to with a smug air.

“Hey! I am not having an identity crisis! Leave that to John I’m-Not-A-Homosexual-But-Oops-I-Kissed-A-Guy-Once-Egbert,” Dave snips back, and then yelps when you jab him in the ribs.

“It was an accident, you jerk! I didn’t know it was a he!” You sputter, red in the face as they all laugh at you.

“Okay, okay, hush up, truth or dare,” Jade says, waving her arms in front of your faces to get your attention.

“This game is a little childish,” Rose says with an arched brow, but Dave waves her off.

“Naw man, this is the panicle of adulthood. Look at us, all adults, already buzzed like the vibrators in yo mama’s closet, getting ready to spill deep dark secrets or be subjected to Egbert dares.”

You snicker as Dave mumbles on, wobbling back and forth a bit. You think he might’ve taken more than his far share from the now-empty bottle on the floor, but you don’t question it.

Jade spins it without further long-winded metaphors from Dave, and it lands on you.

“Truth!” You say immediately, and Jade grins like a wolf.

“Did you really not know it was a guy?”

“I—oh my god, Jade!! Yes I didn’t know it was a bloke! Why don’t you believe me?” You look at her in mock-irritation as she giggles.

“Just checking! Your turn John.”

You spin it and follow the pointed neck of the bottle to Rose’s smirking face.

“Uh…”

“Dare.”

You gulp.

She smiles.

“Stop looking at me?” You try weakly, which gets a cackle out of Jade and a snort from Dave.

She does, thankfully, and reaches forward to spin the bottle. It lands on you again, figures, and you sigh as Rose pins you with her eyes and waits for your choice. Knowing her, you decide on something safe.

“Dare.”

“I want you to send a text to your father and ask if he’s proud of your choice in colleges.”

You groan and slump forward. “Aw, Rose, no come on, he’ll call me and go on for hours about it!”

Her smile curls a little higher. “Are you rejecting your dare, John?”

You whine as Dave gives you a sympathetic look and a shove. One embarrassing phone call later and it’s your turn again.

“Dave!” You grin eagerly, turning to your best bro as he tilts his head at the bottle.

“What? Dude no, it’s totally pointing to the side of me at that weird clown picture. Why the clowns bro? Shit ain’t funny. Dare it to take a nose dive off a cliff so we won’t be subjected to its existence anymore. Please Egbert, save us all.”

You snort at Dave’s monotone rambling and poke him in the chest. “Truth or dare?”

“Ugh, truth.”

“Why aren’t you going to college?”

The atmosphere flickers very briefly, but it’s enough to get a glare from Rose. You think you fucked up, but then Dave just laughs loudly and shoves you a little too hard.

“Not for this Strider! Can’t contain me world, fuck your brainwashing system. Say no to Big Brother and fuck off to those peepers in the NSA, enjoy all the porn assholes haha.”

He didn’t really answer, but you sort of don’t want to ask again.

Dave spins and it lands on Jade.

“Finally! Dare! And make it good, buster!”

“Yes ma’am. I dare you to, uh, dance on Mr. Egbert’s nice coffee table.”

“What, no!” You sputter, but Dave isn’t done yet.

“With shoes, to thirty seconds of eighty’s music.”

Jade grins. “You’re on.”

A minute later you and Dave are in tears on the floor as Jade head bangs to some god awful song Rose found on the internet. She’s recording it for future blackmail, you don’t doubt, but right now all you can go is wheeze through your giggles as Dave clutches at your back and tries to contain his laughter.

Once Jade sits back down she pulls a small bottle out of her purse and starts passing it around. Normally this isn’t something you’d really be doing, but since it’s just you and your best friends you don’t think twice about it.

Dave takes a slightly bigger swing of it than the rest of you and Rose doesn’t let him have it back after that.

Jade spins and it lands on Rose. Then it goes on to you, Rose again, Dave, and back to Rose. Finally Rose makes you all shuffle seats so it starts getting Dave more.

Your head feels fuzzy and light and you’re laughing at everything. Deep down you feel a twinge of sadness since you don’t know when you’ll be able to do something like this again. Sure, you will all stay best buds and text literally all the time! But this sort of thing won’t happen every weekend anymore.

“Yo, Egderp, hey, pay attention,” Dave growls, smacking you gently.

You blink and notice the bottle pointing at you. “Oh. Uh, truth.”

“What were you thinking about?” Rose asks, and you frown.

“It…uh, maybe not now?”

But they aren’t going to let you get away that easily. Jade keeps bouncing your leg and Dave starts a tirade of ‘oh woe is me’ so you finally throw your hands up and groan.

“Okay! I was thinking about this! How I won’t see you guys anymore after this and it sucks.” You sway a little and shake your head, trying to clear yourself. “I love you guys and I know we’re going to stay in touch but like, I don’t know…Guys this is college.”

You look up and find all three of them staring intently at you. You swallow and continue. “I know we’re friends but all I ever hear are people saying I’ll make new friends…other friends. I don’t want other friends. I don’t want to grow apart or only see you on the holidays! What if we get different? Rose, you’re going off to California! Jade, you’re still going to be in-state with Dave but fuck, guys, I’m far away too. I…I guess I just miss you all already.”

Silence descends on all of you as you stare at the bottle and blink firmly. You didn’t mean to go off like that, but you really couldn’t stop once you started. It was a growing fear as the end of summer inched closer and closer.

There’s a shuffling sound and suddenly Jade has her arms around you.

“Aw John, don’t think about it like that. You said so yourself, we’ll text all the time! And so what if we change a bit? We will all change. We’ve changed since we knew each other. And we might not see each other as much anymore but that doesn’t mean we don’t love you any less!”

“Quite,” Rose says, scooting over and laying a hand on your knee. “We all have computers and we will all see each other over the summers. It will be different, and I won’t say it won’t be hard, but everybody goes through it John. We’ll be okay.”

You look up and smile at her gratefully. Your eyes drift over and you frown suddenly. “Hey, where did Dave go?”

Jade lets go of you and looks around. “I don’t know, maybe outside?”

“I’ll go check,” you offer, bounding up and smiling. The world wobbles a little, but you’re determined to walk straight. “Sorry about that, I’m better now really. Just a lot is changing.”

Rose nods and smiles at you and you head off to the back door, finding it slightly ajar. You push it open and step out on the patio behind your house. Sure enough, you see Dave standing near the far corner. His hands are in his pockets and he’s not doing much.

“Dave, hey, what are you doing out here?” You hurry over and shiver a little. It got late without you realizing, and with the sun also went the heat.

“Yeah, sorry dude, just wanted to get out for a bit.”

Dave’s voice is tight and clipped. You inch closer and peer around him, trying to get a look at his face.

“What, oh my god, Dave, are you crying?” Your voice rises in shock before he pushes you off of his shoulder and shakes his head.

“Fuck no, keep it down dude. Just cold out. Eyes water when it’s cold. Fucking science. You’ll learn all about it off in your fancy college.”

You take a step back, a little hurt by his tone. “Dave, what’s wrong? Was it what I said in there? Because Jade told me we will still be able to hang out every day during summer! It really isn’t that bad haha I just got all worked up—”

“Fuck, John, will you stop talking for once?” Dave turns around and though you can’t see it, you know he’s glaring at you. The tip of his nose is red and his cheeks are pink from the cold. You swear you saw his lower lip tremble for the briefest of seconds, but then it’s gone and he’s talking again.

“You don’t get it, none of you do. While you’re off in your fancy colleges growing into shining examples of adulthood, I’m stuck in this shit hole town. I don’t get to change, Egbert, don’t you get it? I don’t get to be a pretty fucking butterfly like the rest of you. You whine about how it’s hard for you? Fucking hell John, I don’t even get the privilege to whine about it! I don’t get ‘new friends’ I get to watch my old friends move on! Without _me_.”

You gape as Dave finishes, his shoulders shaking and his hands clenched in his pockets.

“Why…Why didn’t you say…?”

“Say what, John?” Dave’s voice drops its angered edge and becomes something worse, almost bitter. “Say that I’m too damn poor to go to college? That even if I could I don’t have the grades? Earn Jade’s pity and Rose’s quiet offerings to help with money? To get that fucking look you’re giving me now? No thanks.”

You swallow and reach out, wrapping your arms around him and crushing him in a hug. He stiffens for all of two seconds before clutching at you in an almost painful manner.

You don’t say anything, because really what is there to say? You make a silent note in the back of your mind to call Dave at least once a week while you’re away.

When you finally pull away he looks relatively normal, though you’ve both started shivering.

“There’s…there’s something else too,” he begins, but then the back door opens and Jade sticks her head out.

“There you two are! Come on, we’re getting bored!”

You flash Dave a smile. “Can’t have the ladies getting bored, what sort of gentlemen are we?”

Dave snorts and instantly everything is back to the calm, easy demeanor of before. “Especially knowing Rose. She’ll take matters into her own hands.”

You both walk back in and rejoin the game, though this time the questions are purposefully left light hearted.

Rose keeps an eye on the two of you throughout the night, and you think her gaze lingers longer than you’d like whenever Dave touches you. And for some reason, Dave is touching you a lot. Little brushes of his hand on your arm as he reaches past you, his knee rubbing against yours, playful jostling with his shoulder, even full out slumping against you as he comically groans about Jade’s terrible dares.

Jade’s bottle goes around again and this time you take more than you think Rose approves of. You can’t help it, it’s been a really stressful night of fun.

Dave is leaning on his hand which he’s placed behind your back, causing your shoulders to brush every minute or so. You grin when Jade dares Rose to sing a nursey rhyme, and then all of you shout and plead as she turns it into the most horrific chanting you could imagine. Who knew Mary and her little lamb were part of the occult?

Time ticks by and you’re all sprawled on the floor, Dave mumbling about Jade’s unethical treatment of works of art after she ruffled his carefully styled locks.

Rose looks at you again and you wonder why she seems to stare at Dave’s head on your stomach. Finally she says, “I think it’s time for bed.”

This earns a lot of moaning and complaining, but once she offers to sing a lullaby everybody is quick to disperse.

Jade and Rose go into the guest bedroom while you and Dave try and navigate the stairs to your room. Dave is a little drunker than you are as he sniggers after Rose warns you to be careful on the stairs. Not waiting for him to make that ancient joke, you grab his arm and sling it over your shoulders.

“Come on bud, let’s go.” You notice Dave got oddly quiet with that but don’t attribute it to anything besides alcohol as you both stumble your way upstairs. Dave leans on you a lot, even after you’ve gotten to the top.

“Dude you’re heavy!” You laugh quietly and bring him into your room. He grumbles something back at you that was probably meant to be an insult and then begins working on taking off his clothes.

You quickly look away, trying to ignore the heat in your cheeks. You change as fast as you can with your hindered coordination.

When you turn around Dave is still shirtless and for a moment your brain fuzzes out into TV static until you remember that he always sleeps like that. Avoiding eye contact you remove your glasses and clumsily get into bed.

Dave scoots in right behind you and you yelp when he puts his cold feet on your legs.

“Fuck, Dave!”

He snickers and you both wrestle with the covers for a while before giving up. Your bed is small, and you’re aware of Dave’s closeness as you lie in the dark.

The drinks you had make your eyes feel heavy and you start to let the alluring tug of sleep take over you when Dave nudges your shoulder.

“Hey, John.”

His voice is quiet, barely a whisper, and you blink your eyes open with foggy awareness.

“Mmm?”

“You…do you remember what I was, uh, that I was going to say something else? Outside?”

You think for a second and then finally land on the moment he was talking about, right where Jade interrupted.

“Oh, yeah. What’s up?”

Dave is quiet for a while and you begin to suspect he fell asleep. But when you kick him under the covers he retaliates swiftly and without mercy.

“Ow!”

“Let me talk. Dammit Egbert!”

“Then talk!”

Dave mutters and shifts, turning to face you. You turn your head and make out the slope of his neck in the dark, the rest of him hidden by shadows.

“I figured, since you were leaving, now would be a good time to like, say shit,” he says softly, more to himself than you.

“Okay?”

“Stuff I’ve been thinking for, uh, a while.”

You wait, wondering if this is going to turn out to be some elaborate set up to some sort of prank you’ll have to top tomorrow.

“So, here it goes, I guess.”

The bed dips and you frown as Dave sits up. For a second you think he’s going to get out of bed, but then his bare chest is suddenly over you and you can see the moonlight shining on his arms around you and holy shit he’s getting closer.

Suddenly he’s kissing you, and all your alcohol fuddled mind can think about is how warm it is. You haven’t closed your eyes and you notice things. The curve of his eyelashes against his cheeks, the way his collarbone sticks out, the shine of the moon on his bare arms.

You’re kissing him back.

You didn’t realize you were until he makes a small sound in the back of his throat. You reach up and slowly wrap your arms around him, threading your fingers through his thin, blond hair. He settles on you and you suck in a breath, startled by how little he actually weights. You…don’t know what you’re doing.

Dave seems to, though. His mouth is soft and warm and persistent against yours and you can’t stop thinking about how he sounded outside when he told you that he was being left behind. You hold him tighter and he gasps quietly.

You do love him, you love him so much, but you don’t know if you love him like this. But nothing about this feels wrong, so you let him continue.

Dave has moved the rest of himself on top of you but hasn’t made any more advances, seemingly content to only kiss you.

Hesitantly, you move your hands to cup Dave’s face and, hearing him sigh happily, you make the next move.

Carefully, like handling glass, you nibble a bit on his lower lip and tilt your head, deepening the kiss. Your fuzzed mind sparks pleasantly as he opens his lips for you almost immediately, and you find your tongue in your best friend’s mouth.

Dave practically melts. He makes this whimpering noise that goes straight through you and hits something deep in your core that suddenly wakes your mind up and all you can think about is how you want to hear that again.

You roll over and, with a bit of work, get him back under the covers. More importantly, you get him under you. He breaks the kiss for a moment and pants quietly, looking up at you and from here you can finally see his face.

His eyes are lidded and his pupils blown wide, almost hiding the bright red of his eyes. His lips are wet and plump and the look he’s giving you is making it hard to think about more ways to describe him. You remember suddenly his lack of shirt and waste no time placing a hand on his chest and sliding it down to his waist, feeling his body as you do. He’s got little scars and scratches from who knows what, and though he’s skinny you can feel the muscle coiled under your hand.

His hands are in your hair and he’s pulling you into him, making breathless demands against your lips before you finally let him kiss you again.

It’s hot and dizzy and you stop trying to think and just focus on how it feels instead. It becomes a lot easier after that, and Dave seems past all thought at this point too. His hands fall down your back and slip under your pajama pants, finding your ass and rubbing it through your boxers. You gasp and lose your balance, falling on Dave’s chest. He takes advantage and sucks on your neck, sending an odd tingling feeling through your body as he plays with your ass.

You kiss his chest and up to his shoulder, hearing every catch and shudder in his breathing you get to his neck. There’s a long thin scar where his neck meets his shoulder, and your brain dumbly commands you to lick it.

When you drag your tongue along the mark Dave’s body goes still for a split second before relaxing completely beneath you. He tilts his head for you and you stare blankly for a second at his neck and marvel at his beautiful his skin looks. Then your mouth is on it and he’s moaning and you need more of it.

His hands are getting a little frantic as they pull you into him, and you can feel his hardness on your thigh. Some part of you that’s still in control sends a warning signal to your brain, but it doesn’t stop you from aligning your hips with his and slowly grinding into him.

Dave’s head rolls back and he lets out a breathless, shuddering moan that makes your skin hot all over. You answer his moan with one of your own as you rock your body into him, biting your lip as pleasure slowly takes away the last of your rationale.

Dave is moaning for you, small helpless gasps of your name, and it makes your nerves light up every time he tries to pull you closer. You aren’t in control, neither is he, and both of you are grasping at each other almost desperately as Dave kisses you eagerly.

He’s moving now, you realize in the back of your mind, pushing you over and climbing on top of you. For a second you get a flash of fear, but then he’s settled back on top of you and resumes grinding against your dick. You pant into his mouth and he cages you in with his body, pushing his dick against yours faster.

You feel something tightening in your gut and you reach up blindly, clinging to Dave as he brings you both closer to the edge. He’s looking down at you in a way that makes you squirm and ache for something more, but then he catches your lips in a passionate kiss and grinds his hard dick against yours and that’s it.

You arch up with a soundless cry as you come in your pants, shuddering with tiny gasps as you feel him push against you a couple more times before finishing as well.

“ _John_ ,” he gasps in your ear as he comes, and your mind hazily clings to that memory even as he slowly folds himself into you.

You need to change, so does Dave, but right now your post-orgasm haze and the alcohol in your blood combine to shut your mind down almost immediately.

Your last sensation is Dave curling his lanky body around you before you pass out in the welcome oblivion of sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

It takes you a while to wake up the next morning. You feel stiff and sort of groggy as you finally peel your eyes open, bracing yourself for an oncoming headache or something. Thankfully, probably due to your age, you don’t get much more than a small twinge from the sunlight streaming into your room. You sigh and close your eyes again, dozing for a bit.

You smell something cooking and wrinkle your nose happily. Looks like dad is making breakfast! You roll over and open your eyes again, noticing the extra pillow in your bed. You stare at it for a second and then slowly sit up. You pants feel stiff and scratchy and after a brief examination you know why. More specifically, you remember why.

And Dave is nowhere to be seen.

You sit in bed for a good minute trying to process last night. Your brain runs over what you remember, which is a fairly decent amount, and you try and make sense of it.

No luck, it would seem, because you are still very confused after five minutes of frantic thinking.

You made out with your best friend last night. You sort of, uh, did more too. With Dave. While drunk. Your face starts to heat up as you realize you totally took advantage of him. Shit. But to be fair he took advantage too! So he couldn’t be mad. Plus you had both been drunk! So, you nervously concluded in your head, that negated all reasoning and logic. Just alcohol.

You’re never drinking again.

The smell of cooking is growing stronger and you focus on that instead. You remember that your dad isn’t home this weekend. Who was up and making breakfast?

Your stomach growls and you hurriedly get up and change your clothes before heading downstairs.

The girls are already up and sitting on the stools by the breakfast counter. A stack of pancakes sit before them as they chatted idly over coffee. At the stove is Dave, wielding the spatula with a careless ease.

Your heart does something weird when you spot him, but he hasn’t seen you yet so you quickly regroup and bound down the last couple steps.

“Morning!” You call out loudly, and try not to notice the odd stillness that goes through Dave.

Jade greets you just as brightly while Rose grumbles something and helps herself to another cup of coffee. You smile and perch yourself on a seat next to Jade.

“Why, I didn’t know you could cook, Dave!”

When he looks at you you’re all smiles.

He pauses and then snorts and shakes his head. “Come on Egbert, you should know by now I’m a man of many talents. Pancakes are my specialty, how else have I lived so long in the presence of morning-Rose? I know how to save my ass.”

Rose looks up and glares.

“Be calm, mighty beast,” Dave replies, sliding a pancake onto her plate.

She rolls her eyes but digs in without much further encouraging.

“See? Now what will it be, Egbert. Bananas? Blueberries? I think I’ve got some chocolate chips left but no promises. Jade woke up early and had me slaving away.”

Early? Then how early had Dave been up?

“Bananas!” You answer eagerly, snatching the pot of coffee away from Jade and pouring yourself a big cup.

You relax as Dave makes you your pancakes, relieved that nothing seemed to be different. It was just something stupid you both did because of the alcohol, no big deal.

You give Dave a big grin as he hands you your pancakes and ignore Rose’s grimace of disgust as you hunt down whipped cream and add it to your food.

After Jade gets a good helping of whipped cream and Rose starts another pot of coffee, the four of you laze around and watch cartoons for a while. Finally it gets late enough that people begin to collect their belongings.

Oddly enough though, when you offer to help Dave find the rest of his stuff in your room, he declines and takes Jade instead. You don’t think much of it and work on getting the dishes put away. You say bye to all your friends and give Jade a big hug. Dave gives you a fist bump and Rose gets a hug as well before you wave them off from your doorway.

You clean up everything and hide the liquor bottles before you dad comes home. When he asks about your sleepover you grin and say it was awesome.

He gives you a hug and tells you how proud he is of you, and for some reason a small flash of shame goes through you.

The summer goes by frighteningly fast. You all hang out as much as you can, but you never seem to manage to get Dave by himself. He’s always busy or already with Jade or Rose. You don’t mind at all, seeing more of your friends at once is always great, but you start to get a little concerned when he doesn’t answer your text for a bro movie night.

You realize that he’s probably upset about you all going to college now that it’s closer, so you throw one last big party at your place to celebrate. You’re careful to not make it a college celebration and invite Rose and Jade before asking Dave.

When he hears the girls are going to be there he says yes and you’re relieved.

The adults are there too and you all find yourselves camped out in your room with slices of cake your dad made for you.

You don’t eat yours and try to force feed it to Jade, which gets a smile out of Rose.

Dave is quiet but still joins in the fun once Jade tries to shove her entire slice into his face. There’s a brief food fight where Rose emerges dominate in a matter of minutes and then you’re left bashfully apologizing to your dad as your friends giggle behind you.

When the party begins to wind down you give each one of them a big hug, even chasing down Dave when he tries to sneak out of it. You laugh and grab him and hold onto him for a bit longer than the girls. He wheezes about his ribs and his Strider manliness but you don’t care.

When they finally leave you don’t realize you have tears in your eyes until your dad pulls you into a hug. You sniff and swallow a lump in your throat.

“I’m going to miss them so much,” you manage to get out.

“I know, son, and they’ll miss you too. Perhaps it’s time I gave you my graduation gift? I think it will help.”

You follow your dad outside and to the garage, trying to hide your watery eyes. You remember how Dave had stood outside on your patio that night and told you he didn’t want to be left behind. You think about how Jade hugged you when you told them you were going to miss them, and how Rose tried to make you see the good side of it. You think of how Dave’s body felt against yours. You try not to think.

“Ready for your surprise?”

You look up and smile, nodding.

You dad pushes the garage door clicker and the door folds upwards, revealing a second car in the driveway. It’s a sedan, like your dads, blue and a little old.

You can tell immediately that it’s for you.

“Really?” You look up at him, eyes wide.

He smiles and hands you a pair of keys. “I had to make sure you have a way to visit.”

You don’t think he just meant home.

You throw your arms around him and thank him a million times until he’s laughing and ruffling your hair.

The next day you begin packing, and by the weekend your new car is stuffed to the brim. You didn’t really know what to take, and your dad insisted on being very prepared, so you ended up packing your entire bedroom. He also snuck you a hot plate, some dishes and utensils, despite you reminding him that you had dining halls near you.

When you leave the next morning you think you see your dad wiping away a few tears in your rear view mirror. You definitely have more than a few tears yourself.

The drive is long and exhausting and you get lost a couple times, but before you know it you’re here. You’re in college.

You take your stuff up to your room and it takes forever but finally you get it all there. You just finish getting it all in order when there’s a knock on your door.

“Hey, jackas—uh, I mean, hey. You live here?”

You look over to see a short, tan guy in a sweater scowling at you from your doorway. He’s got a box of stuff in his arms and looks a little wary.

“Yep! I’m John, nice to meet you!”

“Karkat.” He replies shortly, and then walks in and dumps his box down. “Why the fuck doesn’t this building have elevators?”

You laugh. “I guess they want you to tough it out from the very first minute!”

Karkat grunts and you offer to help him unload. He looks a little suspicious but after a couple trips he finally realizes that yes, you are that obnoxiously friendly.

The first thing you do once Karkat starts to get settled is tack up a picture of you and your friends right by your bed. Your chest aches a little at Jade’s big smile, Rose’s warm expression, and Dave’s goofy pose.

“Those your friends?” Karkat asks, catching sight of the photo.

“Hmm? Oh, yep! Sure are.” You grin and rummage through a box, not really paying attention to what you’re pulling out. “What about you? Bring any pictures of your friends back home?”

“Psh, nah, they’re lame.” Karkat scoffs, though you see a few pictures of his own hiding among his boxes.

The rest of the day is an exhausting blur, and the rest of the week too for that matter. Before you know it you’re knee deep in work and classes are getting harder. One night you get a text from Rose while you’re puzzling out an equation.

You pick up your phone and see she’s started a group chat for the four of you. Grinning, you quickly add your own update into the rapid-fire chattering going on between Jade and Dave.

It gets easier now, and you text them at least once a week or so. Rose is really busy, and you gradually start hearing less and less from her.

Then one day you get a text with a picture.

Curious, you open it to find a photo of Rose with a lovely tan woman in a green scarf. The caption simply reads ‘my girlfriend and I’, which is enough to get Jade to start harassing the group chat until Dave begs her to stop.

That’s the other thing you notice too, as the weeks slowly slip by. You don’t hear much from Dave. When he does text it’s always late at night and you’re either out with Karkat or asleep.

Feeling a little guilty, you give him a quick call one Friday after your last class gets out.

The phone rings for a while and then goes straight to voicemail.

“Hey Dave, it’s me! Give me a call when you’re not busy. Um, yeah, bye!”

You text Jade a little while later to see if she’d been in touch with Dave, but apparently she hadn’t either. You don’t bother asking Rose since she’s been so busy lately with her classes and new girlfriend. You’re happy for them! You just wish you could talk to Rose a little more.

You’re having a great adult session of sulking when Karkat comes into your room and snorts.

“What the hell Egbert, did somebody die?”

You stick out your tongue as he dumps his book on the ground. “No! I just haven’t heard from my friend in a bit.”

“So? He’s got a life too you know. Let the man breathe.” Karkat climbs into his bed and pulls out a book, looking unamused. “And anyway, don’t you have a car? Go see him if you’re that worried.”

You gape blankly at Karkat for a minute before your mind catches up to you. “Oh my god you’re right!”

“Fuckin’ surprise,” Karkat grumbles, and then looks up in alarm as you start racing around and throwing things into a pile. “What, you’re going now? It’s almost six. Don’t you live like five hours away?”

“Four if you go quickly,” you say with a wink, grabbing a duffle bag and shoving some clothes in it. You can stay with your Dad if you need to, but you take some basic sleepover essentials in case you end up hanging with Dave.

“Uh, alright, don’t crash and die or something stupid because knowing you, you’d find a way to land ass-first into a cow field or something.”

“Aw Karkat, are you worried?” You wiggle your eyebrows and grin until he starts swearing at you, then laugh and take your leave.

Your heart is racing as you hurry to your car and throw you bag into the front seat. You’re going to see Dave! Maybe Jade too, since her college is only an hour away from your house! You put on the radio and turn it up as you start the long drive back to home.

Friday rush hour teeters off around eight and you’re practically bouncing in your seat as you merge onto a familiar highway. Only a couple hours more!

You can’t wait to see Dave’s face when you surprise him. You bet he’ll do that silly thing where his eyebrows go up and his mouth opens before he realizes he broke the Strider poker face. You giggle and speed up just a little bit more, anxious to see him.

It’s late when you pull into his neighborhood, and you’re yawning as you park in the garage under his apartment building and head up in the elevator. You remember him saying earlier that his Bro almost never shows up anymore so the place is basically his, and you hope it’s true because you were never very good at speaking with Dave’s older brother. He’s a little odd!

Shifting the bag higher on your shoulder you fidget anxiously as the elevator stops at the top floor. You get out and hurry down the hall, the carpet muffling your sneakers.

You can’t wait to see his face.

You stop in front of his door and grin, raising your fist and knocking twice.

For a few minutes there’s silence, and you wonder if you should knock again, when the door swings open.

Dave is standing there in sweats and a tank top, looking like he just rolled out of bed despite it being ten at night. He does a double take and his eyebrows arch up in shock.

“John?”

“Dave!” You launch yourself through the doorway and give him a crushing hug, laughing when he swears and struggles in your grip.

“What the fuck! Egbert, why are you here? How are you here? Ow! Dude, watch it!”

You finally release him and grin. “Surprise!”

“Uh yeah, no shit.” Dave says, still looking at you like he doesn’t quite believe you’re here.

Your smile falls a bit and you jostle him with your bag. “What? Not happy to see me?”

That snaps Dave out of whatever funk he was in. He drags you the rest of the way inside and shuts the door. “Naw man just surprised, you really got me this time. Ten points to Hufflepuff or whatever the fuck house you’re in. Too damn mischievous for those pure little badgers if you ask me.”

You drop your bag by the door and follow Dave to the couch in the middle of his apartment which you know doubles as a futon when his older Bro is home. The place looks a lot cleaner since you last visited, and you spot his turn tables out in the living room which strikes you as a little odd.

“So how’s life back here?” You ask, flopping on the couch and grinning when Dave shoves your legs off his lap.

“Eh, boring as shit. I got a job DJ’ing at a club downtown so that’s pretty cool. Sometimes they let me play my own shit. Look out Egbert, soon you’ll have people stalking you to my place and getting ideas when you don’t emerge until morning. What will your father say when your face is splashed across the tabloids?”

You snicker and kick him, though you’re secretly glad Dave found something enjoyable to do for work.

“What about you? How’s college?” His tone is light but you still try to make you answer as brief as possible.

“Eh, boring, hard, basically just school only in pajamas.” You wave you hand dismissively and scoot closer to him. “Are you working tonight?”

“Nah, I usually do Saturdays. The rest of the week is bartending. You’d be surprised how many sad fuckers trudge in on a Thursday. Tips galore, raining mad money.”

You grin and jostle him with your shoulder, a warm content feeling blooming in your stomach. You’d missed him a lot more than you realized.

“Hey! Want to call Jade tomorrow and have a group meet up? We can skype Rose too if she’s not too busy!”

“Tomorrow?” Dave echoes blankly.

“Oh I know! We could all go to my house in the morning! I bet my dad would cook up some pancakes, even though yours are totally awesome but you probably need a chill day right? Haha life as a working man must be tough! I probably wouldn’t remember to feed myself or anything.”

“John, hang on a second,” Dave begins, but you keep going, excited with the thought of your plans.

“Oh and we can meet up again for thanksgiving! That’ll be in a couple months but I bet dad wouldn’t mind having everybody over! Your Bro could come too Dave though I don’t know if that’s really his thing? Heh, I wonder if Rose will bring Kanaya. They seem happy, huh?”

“John, holy shit, what are you even saying, I thought you stopped eating sugar when you got to college damn.”

“Tomorrow, Dave! Let’s call Jade tomorrow and see if she wants to drive over!”

“Right,” Dave said, his expression remarkably unenthused about your great idea. “Tomorrow. And tonight…?”

“Sleepover!” You grin and whack him with one of the couch cushions. “Come on! I know you’ve been super busy but now you can’t escape. I want to hear everything you’ve been doing lately, Strider!”

“Sleepover.” Dave repeats, his shoulders tightening.

“Yeah, we’ll migrate over to my house in the morning. I won’t eat your food dude don’t worry!” You give him a big smile and then falter when he doesn’t return it.

“Dave?”

“Mm, yeah?”

You squint over your glasses at him, not buying the forced casual look he’s trying to pull off. Sure you haven’t seen him in a while, but you’ve known Dave Strider since kindergarten and like hell he can pull one over on you.

“Is this about inviting Jade over? Because we don’t have to, it can be just a bro thing if you want! I mean I miss her tons but she and I talk a bunch so it’s cool if you want it to be just us.”

“No, it’s not that. I’d be rad as hell to see Jade. Harley’s probably gotten all wise to my shit though, going to have to think up some new stuff to impress the crowd.”

He’s rambling, and you narrow your eyes at him even more.

“Dave.”

“And like what if Rose skypes in? Then I’m really screwed. She’s going to psycho-analyze my ass from across the country with her supermodel girlfriend while the dork-twins supply her with ample amo.”

“Dave.”

“Holy hell Egbert then comes the questions. The who what where when and with whom are going to shovel six feet down, drop my ass in, and bury me alive before I can even begin my defense. Headlines will read; Poor Helpless Boy found Buried by Well-Intended Relatives—”

“Dave!”

He finally cuts off and looks at you, lips pressed into a thin, tight line. “What Egbert jeez, no need to shout.”

“No need to talk my ear off either! Okay so if it isn’t Jade then what? Do you not want me sleeping over?”

“No, well not no, I do, but,” Dave mumbles, suddenly very interested in the coffee table in front of him.

“But what? We’ve shared a bed since forever, dude.”

“I know John I was there,” he comments sourly.

“Then what? I’ll go stay at my Dad’s it’s no trouble,” you’re quick to add on, realizing you basically invited yourself over. “But did I do something? Like yeah sorry for basically busting down your door at night, is that it?”

“No, John, it’s…” Dave sighs and rakes his hand through his hair, a gesture you haven’t seen before. You watch it slide through the thin blond locks and wonder what else he picked up when you weren’t looking.

“It’s what?”

“I…do you, uh, remember the last time we, you know, hung out? Like that?” Dave gestures vaguely and you frown.

“You mean the party before we all left?”

“No, before that.”

“Uh, at Rose’s house when her mom tried to slip us wine coolers?”

“Oh man no but thanks for the reminder, can’t trust any drink now.”

“Then what?”

Dave fidgets and then slumps a bit, turning to face you. “At your house. The night when your Dad was away and you had everybody over. Our last sleepover.”

“What—oh.” You stop and your heart flutters because yes, you do remember. You remember following Dave outside and hearing for the first time how lost and angry he felt about his situation. You remember Jade dancing on the table and Rose telling you everything will be okay. You remember drinking too much, and helping Dave into your room. You remember how he sounded when you were on top of him…

“How much do you remember?” Dave asks after you’ve been silent for what feels like ages.

Something hot has crawled under your skin and suddenly it’s your turn to be fascinated with the coffee table. “Um, a lot? I don’t know we were pretty drunk.”

“Yeah. Drunk.” Dave parrots weakly.

You’re both quiet for a while before you stand up and shuffle your feet awkwardly. “I’ll get my things and stay with my Dad. But, uh, can I still see you tomorrow?”

Dave stands up too quickly and nods before you’re done speaking. “Right, yeah, of course, mhm.”

You both scoot around each other and on man you can hear your heart pounding against your chest. You feel really stupid, bringing that up. You’d been drunk and he’d tried to say something important that night and you totally took advantage. I mean yeah okay he started it, but that didn’t mean you should’ve let it go that far! You had less than he did, which makes you the responsible one. And now you feel like shit because Dave isn’t looking at you and you messed up real bad.

Way to go Egbert.

He walks you to the door and you grab your bag, feeling hot with shame. You can’t believe you waltzed into your best friend’s house, who you kind of felt up when he was intoxicated, and proposed another sleepover. You flush as you realize Dave probably thought you were trying to do something like that again.

“Um,” you clear your throat and try to think of what to say.

“See you tomorrow?” Dave asks, and you nod a little too hastily.

He opens the door and you hesitate before blurting out, “I’m sorry.”

Dave freezes and looks at you like you grew a second head. “What?”

“I’m sorry, about, uh, last time. Sorry.” You swear your face is on fire right now and oh god he’s staring at you did you make it worse? Probably.

“What?” Dave says again, incredulous.

“You know,” you mutter, wishing you hadn’t said anything. “That. Sorry.”

Dave slowly shuts the door and gapes. “John. John what the fuck.”

“I, huh? What?” You feel like a deer in headlights with the intensity of his stare and you’re so grateful you can’t see his eyes right now because you don’t think you can handle that.

“You, oh my god, John. You come into my house, you can’t just, oh my god, you come here and apologize, after like, what, months, for _some fucked up shit I did?_ ” Dave is sputtering and grasping for words and now it’s your turn to gape.

“You? But I—?”

“You didn’t do anything! John, shit, I felt so bad about it I knew you were drunk and I know you don’t feel that way but fuck you were there and I just,” Dave’s voice cracks and he stops, breathes, and continues.

“I fucked up so bad that night. I didn’t think you’d want to talk to me every again but when you did I figured you didn’t remember? And I was relieved! It was so messed up. Fucking hell, I was relieved because I didn’t lose my closest bro but now you’re telling me you remember everything and think it’s your fault?”

“It is!” You protest, dropping your bag again in favor of gesturing a bit too wildly. “You were super drunk Dave! I wasn’t as drunk as you and I totally took advantage! I mean I didn’t really feel that way I guess but I don’t know, I didn’t not like it? I, ugh, this is so hard.” You resist the urge to stomp your foot and whine, but it’s hard.

“John,” Dave says weakly, and you can’t tell if he’s about to laugh or completely lose it.

“You didn’t do anything bad! You weren’t you!”

“But I _wanted it_ ,” Dave hisses, and you take a step back in surprise.

He takes a step forward, following you. “John, you have no idea how long I’ve, fuck, how hard it’s been not to tell you. But how could I tell you? You can’t ever reciprocate so when I found you…‘reciprocating’ I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t…stop.”

“Tell me what?” You say quietly, feeling your heart hammering against your chest. Your palms feel sweaty and you remember vividly how his body felt lying on top of yours, warm and solid. You flush as he takes another step in, bringing you both just a touch too close together than normal.

The corner of Dave’s mouth twitches humorlessly as he reaches up and pushes his shades back up into his hair. When he looks at you it freezes you in place, so reacting is impossible when he speaks.

“That I like you. A lot. And…and I meant everything I did that night, even if I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

He watches you, watches you so closely you think he can see the thoughts flying through your brain a million miles per hour. You don’t move. He pauses, then moves just a bit closer. You can smell him, you can see the almost invisible freckles across his nose. There’s a small scar on his jaw.

When his lips touch yours after so many months, it’s not like anything you remember.

The first time had been hazy, warm, and filled with fumbling uncertainty. It had been quick and almost mindless.

This time it was the opposite. His lips were cool and dry against yours. The kiss he placed on your lips was chaste and sweet, nothing like what you remember. It sent the oddest feeling down your spine, like little sparks were dancing down your body.

Like last time, it takes you a minute to fully process. When you do, he’s pulling away and you have this horrible feeling in your stomach that if he pulls away now you won’t see him tomorrow. You won’t see him tomorrow because he’ll come up with some excuse, and when you visit next time he’ll say he has to work.

So you reach for him. You reach out and catch him and pull him back because you can’t lose Dave. You don’t know how you feel about any of this but you do know that you couldn’t bear to be without him so you reach out and pull him back.

When you kiss him he’s stiff and surprised and you almost laugh at it. But then he’s kissing you back and you really don’t mind because it’s Dave.

“John,” he breathes against your lips, and you shiver because you’ve never heard him say your name like that, not even last time.

You don’t think about it, because if you think about you’ll get confused and stop and Dave might freak out. So you hold him and kiss him and you can’t stop the small sound you make when he grips the back of your shirt as if to anchor himself to you.

You’re kissing and he’s pulling you somewhere and it takes you a minute to figure it out but then his knees hit the sofa and you both tumble down onto it.

He chuckles as your glasses get lost on the floor and you mockingly glare down at him. Something small and hot blooms in your heart at the sight of him like this. His hair is ruffled and his shades have vanished, but the small smile playing around the corners of his mouth make you want to kiss him again.

So you do. You lean down and kiss him and he makes this noise that sends you reeling. His hands have slipped under your shirt and he’s running them over your waist and sides, sending shivers down your spine. His lips part and his tongue flicks out and that’s all the invitation you need before you push your tongue back against his.

He lets you take control without a thought, encouraging you with little gasps and whines as your teeth find his neck. You suck on a spot behind his ear and he holds you there like a life line, panting soft swear words interspersed with your name.

You can’t stop yourself. You can’t stop kissing him and your hands are under his shirt and you’re finding these spots that make him twitch and whine and push into your touch. There’s a burning feeling in the pit of your stomach and it isn’t until Dave pushes his hips into yours that you let out a choked moan.

Dave’s hands still on your back for just a minute and then they’re on your ass and he’s pulling your hips down.

“Oh, fuck, Dave,” you pant, adjusting yourself so you’re straddling him. He looks up at you with a burning expression that flashes you back to that night and it sends a bolt of desire through you so strong you moan aloud.

“John,” Dave murmurs, and then he rolls his hips up and you moan again, responding without thought. He pulls you down against him and kisses your fiercely until you’re dizzy and gasping his name. It’s getting to be too much but you don’t want to stop, and you don’t want it to be like last time. So you put your hands on his chest and push him, trying to stop moving as you move away to look at him.

“Dave, Dave wait, stop,” you say breathlessly, trying to arrange your thoughts.

Dave quickly takes his hands off you. “Shit, sorry. John are you—?”

“Not like this,” you manage to say. “Not like last time. I want…”

You trail off, not sure how to finish, but Dave seems to understand immediately.

He smiles a bit shakily and nods, pushing you gently off him and sitting up. “Yeah, yeah you’re right. Come with me?”

You take the hand he offers you and the two of you hurry back into his bedroom. It hasn’t changed much, though the space where his turn tables were is now taken up with a chest. You don’t ask because you see the look Dave’s giving you and it turns your blood to fire.

You both end up in a tangled mess on his bed, touching and kissing and trying to get closer somehow. You fumble to take off your shirt and then he’s there, helping you and tossing it away. His is next. He’s all you can think about, all you can wrap your mind around as he’s pressing himself against you and kissing you heatedly. You don’t mind, you don’t care, and you want this. It shocks you how much you want this.

Dave doesn’t stop you when you remove both your pants, and the noise he makes when you slip your hand under his boxers almost makes you completely lose control. He’s watching you through heavy lidded eyes and you kiss his slightly swollen lips because damn you love the noise he makes when you do.

Then you feel him touch you and you groan, your hand stopping for a moment as you feel his thin fingers wrap around your dick. It feels incredible, a thousand times better than anything you’ve done before. You pick back up where you left off and you both pant and moan into each other’s mouths, whispering breathless demands as your need increased with every second.

“John, ahh, John I’m close,” Dave moans, and you kiss him deeply and increase your pace. You feel him tense up and then suddenly he’s arching up into you and something hot and wet slides over your hand. He’s shaking and gasping with a far off look in his eyes that makes you kiss him back down to earth.

You gasp as you feel his hand tighten on your dick and move faster, bringing you closer and closer as he murmurs to you. You feel his thumb run over the head of your cock and you shudder, closing your eyes and barely getting out a warning before you come.

You’re both left lying next to each other in his bed, breathing a little raggedly and pressed against each other. His body feels hot to the touch and you can see he’s filled out a little since he began living on his own. You attribute that to lack of stress from his Bro.

After a while, right as you’re starting to get comfortable and contemplate falling asleep just like this, Dave shifts.

You can tell he’s looking at you and you lazily lift your head up to squint at him.

“Hey, John,” he begins quietly, catching your gaze and giving you a tiny smile. “Not that I want to ruin the moment or anything, but I guess I don’t want to be left with crippling guilt over a misunderstanding like last time, you feel?”

You snicker and grin. “Yeah, I feel.”

“Okay. Cool. So, um, this…?” He trails off uncertainly and you bite your lip, unhelpfully silent.

“No pressure dude,” he continues quickly. “I know you’re not, well, not into me. Or dudes.”

“Except that one dude, as everyone likes to remind me,” you add sulkily, which earns a grin from Dave.

“Two now. Though…” Dave pauses and frowns.

You reach up and smooth the crease between his eyebrows. “I liked this. And, uh, I don’t think I feel the same way you do, about me. But I do like this. Whatever this is. So…?”

“So.” Dave repeats, looking at you with fond amusement and something like relief. “So maybe consider doing it again? But only with me? Sort of like a bros with exclusive benefits?”

“Isn’t that like dating?” You ask, wrinkling your nose at him.

“Well look at that, I guess it is. Want to date me, Egbert?”

You laugh and let your head fall back onto his bed, not minding the least as you feel him try and subtly press closer to you. “Yeah, okay, bros with exclusive benefits aka dating. Rose is going to have a field day.”

“Oh god no we are not telling her anything,” Dave groans, rolling over and stuffing his face into the crook of your neck.

You giggle and wrap your arms around him, a little hesitant but happy when you feel him sigh and relax into you. Yeah, this is something you could definitely get used to. It’s just Dave, and you love Dave. Maybe you like Dave too now. You have a boyfriend.

“Rose already knows,” you say with a forlorn sigh, not bothering to hide your smile since he can’t see you anyway.

“Figures,” Dave grumbles. He’s silent for a second and then pops his head up, hair sticking up oddly as he looks at you.

“John?”

“Yeah?” You grin up at him.

He just smiles and gives you a quick kiss. “Thanks for coming over.”

“No problem, thanks for letting me spend the night,” you reply, your grin getting larger as he rolls his eyes at you.

You both settle in for the night, and you wonder as you fall asleep if Dave will make pancakes the next morning like he did the first time, but only for you this time. You kind of hope he does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Leave me a comment if you liked it!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you liked it!


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